Chinmay. Yet Again.

Car country

I’m beginning to think that America consists solely of freeways, with some condos thrown in for good measure. Why doesn’t anyone actually walk on the street? Maybe it’s because of these huge cars too big to be built for real people. I’m tired of firing up GPS on the phone just to figure out which way to turn at an intersection.

I also hereby pronounce drive-ins evil. Drive-in restaurants, drive-in banks, even drive-in Toys-R-Us— I’m sick of all of them. I was positively shocked when I saw a drive-in bank— I can’t believe someone would open an account at a branch which doesn’t even have chairs. There’s a drive-in BankOfAmerica down the street, but they don’t have an ATM I can safely walk up to (of course there’s no way to get in, so there’s no chairs to worry about either).

I’m told cars are an expression of America’s respect for individualism, but I honestly think indivisualism is a bloody misguided principle to found a country on. Especially when indivisualism reduces to a narrow focus on the welfare of the self to the exclusion to that of all others. All it gives you are drive-in McDonalds and a 2km walk to buy a carton of milk.

PS: Actually, I also have to mention that some people do think differently— I must blog about Microsoft’s shuttle and Connector service and of the beautiful Building 99 I work at.

First day story

Today was the first day at my internship at Microsoft Research, Redmond. Lots of interesting things happened today, but I guess everyone has a particular first-day-at-work story. Here’s mine. As usual, it was my fault.

A thoroughly disoriented Chinmay (jetlag + US public transport being the culprits) walked into the long line of interns at Building 92. We were all queued up to get our temporary badges so that, um, we could enter the building to get our permanent badges. As is well-known, time dilates in a queue, and 20 seconds in the line I’m trying to figure out a way to get my badge asap.

Maybe, I could just pickpocket one from a guy who’d got it (it didn’t have a photograph anyway) ;)

Even as I was hatching my evil plans, a volunteer announced they were splitting lines— “A to L this line, the rest form a new line down there”. Ok, got to hurry— I was the second person in the new line!!

Soon, at the head of the queue:

MSR volunteer: Last name please?

Me: Kulkarni

MSR V: How do you spell that?

(Ah, these Americans… unaware of other cultures… blah blah)

Me: K for Kilo, U for umbrella…

MSR V: Um, that’s the other line.

Me: Oh. it is J, K, L.

MSR V: makes a face— Did we really hire this guy??

PS: I still think it’s unfair that A thru’ L have more last names (they do, don’t they?). It’s even worse that I almost made it to the other side!

Brevity: Six developments of a thought

This is an experiment inspired by Picasso’s Bull (eleven developments of a lithograph). I’m nowhere close to the artist, but here’s an attempt.

1. I’ve a hunch that brevity in an idea is correlated with how important it is. Take for example the idea that 80% of success is in showing up (attributed to Woody Allen). (168 chars)

2. In my opinion, brevity of thought reflects how powerful it is. Woody Allen’s quote “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” is an example. (140 chars)

3. I think, the more succinct an idea, the more powerful it is. For example, look at Woody Allen’s “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” (138 chars)

4. I think succinctness of thought is indicative of its power. E.g. Woody Allen’s “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” (121 chars)

5. Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”. Is the succinctness of thought indicative of power? (113 chars)

6. Is brevity of thought indicative of power? Eg. Woody Allen: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” (102 chars)

Florence is beautiful.